


One Year Later

by broedym



Series: Through the Years [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cheating, Consensual Sex, DameRey, F/M, One Night Stands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 03:40:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20383078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broedym/pseuds/broedym
Summary: Cheaters never prosper. Once a cheater, always a cheater.She’d heard the sayings all her life. Rey just never thought she’d be the one doing the cheating. That was until she met Poe Dameron.





	One Year Later

**Author's Note:**

> I've been stuck unable to write much for a couple of months. So here we go, for some reason this is where I went. Insert shrug here.

****Rey entered the upscale lounge bar looking for more peace and quiet than the rest of the glitzy casino offered. She’d refused her colleagues’ invitation to join them, saying she was meeting a friend for a drink. So, only half a lie. There was no friend but she would definitely be having the drink. 

She knew the conference was little more than an excuse for a two-day getaway to Las Vegas. A junket, rather than an opportunity to learn anything that she couldn’t find online or in industry journals. However Rey learned quickly not to disparage the annual trip, or wonder aloud why the company wasted so much money sending their team each year. It was a perk her colleagues clearly enjoyed and, being the newest addition, she didn’t want to rain on their parade.

It didn’t mean she had to join in their night of gambling, though. Rey was far too protective of her first proper salary for that. She drew the line at risking her meager savings, despite their cajoling and suggestions that she was a killjoy. She would skip the gaming tables and go home with her bank account intact, thank you very much.

Still, it was early. And even she thought it would be a little too sad to return to her hotel room and watch TV when she was in Las Vegas for the very first time. The lounge bar tucked away in the corner of the huge hotel was perfect for her. Rey ordered a whiskey, which felt like a sophisticated lounge bar kind of thing to do, took a seat in one of the plush chairs, and pulled out her notes from the plenary session. Soon she was lost in thought, her drink forgotten, when she was interrupted by the clearing of a throat.

“You must be new at this.”

Rey looked up with a frown of annoyance that melted away when she saw him. She suspected she would have reacted similarly even if she hadn’t known who he was or just sat through his keynote. She might have been more focused on work at the moment but she could still appreciate a good looking man when she saw one. And Poe Dameron was definitely that.

He wore the expensive dark suit effortlessly, his crisp white shirt open at the collar because of course he didn’t wear a tie. His almost-black hair was peppered with just a hint of gray in its curls. The designer stubble on his cheeks was too perfect, and there was a flash of white teeth as he smiled down at her.

She made a noise that she hoped passed as something of a response, her eyes darting back to her notes. After a moment she looked up at him again, half convinced he’d have disappeared in that split second. Yet there he was, very much in the flesh.

“Most people don’t bother working during the conference, let alone after sessions have ended for the day,” he continued, all casual and cool. 

“I guess I’m not most people,” Rey offered blandly, unable to think of anything witty to say. 

“I knew that from your question in my presentation. You really nailed me on that one.” If he was offended he didn’t look it. 

“Oh. Right. Sorry about that.” She felt awkward, mostly because she really wasn’t sorry. She’d made a valid point, very directly. Perhaps too directly, she realized, given his reputation and experience and she was just starting out. “I was just interested.”

“No need to be sorry. At least I knew someone was paying attention.” He smiled again and held out his hand. “I’m Poe.”

She shook it firmly while giving him a bemused nod. “I know.”

“Then you have me at a disadvantage.”

She blinked up at him for a few seconds then plucked at her lanyard with an embarrassed blush. “Oh, right. Rey. I’m from—”

Poe gestured for her to stop. “No companies or job titles. No surnames. No conference bullshit. It’s nice to meet you, Rey.”

“I thought one of the reasons for conferences like these was to network.”

“That’s what last night’s terrible mixer was for. Let’s just be two normal people having a conversation.” 

She was tempted to argue he wasn’t a normal person, not to her anyway. Poe Dameron was something of a legend in their industry, and she’d followed his career for years. She had been looking forward to his session when all the talk around the office had been about the more diverting aspects of the conference locale. 

“Do you want another one of those?” he asked, indicating the glass which she’d barely touched.

Rey looked down at her abandoned whiskey. “Not really. I didn’t even want this one. I’m more of a lager drinker, to be honest.”

“Then allow me. May I?” He motioned to the empty chair opposite her. On her nod he sat down and caught the attention of a server to order two German sounding beers.

It took her all of the first drink and most of the second for her to truly relax into their conversation. Poe patiently answered all of her work-related questions before suggesting that there were other far more interesting topics to discuss. Apparently that meant asking her personal stuff like where she was from (thanks to the accent she hadn’t lost despite all her schooling in the States), and where she lived (it turned out he’d lived in San Francisco before and had plenty of suggestions for a relative newcomer to the city). She already knew he was based in LA where he headed up his own firm, and when she plucked up the nerve to ask him more she was unsurprised to learn that Poe liked talking about himself. 

He also liked to laugh which he did a few times as they chatted, from a low chuckle to a full throated guffaw at some throwaway line she’d said. She found herself grinning in response.

“I’m hungry. Want to get something to eat?” he asked out of nowhere and downed the rest of his beer.

Rey just stared at him.

“What?” he said, looking amused. “Don’t you eat?”

“Is this what you do? Pick up women at conferences?”

Poe smiled, his expression practically demure. “No. I guess I was just craving more conversation than shop talk tonight. These things can be pretty dire.”

“Right,” she said, unconvinced. 

“What does that mean?”

Emboldened by the alcohol, Rey was more forthright than she normally would have been. She was usually contained and circumspect, a confirmed introvert. But she was in Vegas, having a drink with Poe bloody Dameron, and she figured she had nothing to lose.

“You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who only wants conversation. I mean, look at you. I find it hard to believe that you never picked up a woman in a bar.”

Poe acknowledged the truth of it with a shrug that was somehow more casual than arrogant. “In my younger days, maybe. You get to an age where you’re looking for something more than sex with a stranger. So my intentions are purely honorable, I swear.” 

“Pity,” Rey mumbled into her glass as she swallowed the last of her own drink.

He either hadn’t heard her, or was pretending he hadn’t. “Besides, I’m seeing someone.”

“Of course you are.”

Poe sat back in his seat. “Why do I get the sense you’re judging me for something you only suspect I am?”

It was her turn to shrug. “Fine. Let’s get dinner. Prove me wrong.” 

Rey gathered up her notes and stuffed them into her bag. She waited for him to change his mind but he put a few folded bills on the table.

“Do you like Japanese?” he said. “I know a great place.”

<><><>

Rey was never quite so satisfied to be right about something. Or someone. Not after dinner turned into more drinks and then a nightcap in Poe’s room before she made the first move when he made it clear that he wouldn’t. Whether it was stubbornness or chivalry on his part she didn’t much care, not after she kissed him once and he was happy to take the lead from there.

Rey had never had a one night stand in her life. But if she was going to, there were worse people in the world than Poe Dameron with whom to start. Maybe because she knew it was a one time only thing she ignored her usual self-consciousness (and the fact he said he was seeing someone), and decided to just enjoy herself. And Poe did not disappoint... she enjoyed herself twice. Practically three times, something else she never did.

It was past 2 a.m. when Rey rolled over in the king sized bed in his ridiculously large suite, careful not to wake him. Her feet barely touched the carpet when she felt him shift behind her.

“Where are you going?” he mumbled.

It wasn’t quite the light of day but Rey was feeling a little more like her old self. She held the sheet up to her bare chest when she turned to look at him. “I have to be at the sponsor breakfast at seven.”

“Ugh, no one goes to those. You could stay.” He blinked up at her, more awake now after his brief nap. 

As tempting as that sounded and as desirable as he looked, tan skin against the white bed linen, she shook her head. “I don’t think that would be such a good idea, do you?”

“Actually I think it’s a great idea,” Poe said, his hand finding the small of her back. It was warm, his fingers gentle as they moved in small, enticing circles.

Rey turned around fully to appreciate him for a moment. As good looking as he was when impeccably groomed, tousled and debauched Poe Dameron was even better. She leaned forward to kiss him, allowing his tongue to slip into her mouth and his hand into her hair in the far too familiar way they did, before coming to her senses. She broke away and placed one last peck on his lips.

“I have to go. Thanks for dinner... and everything.”

“Thank you back,” he said after what could only be described as a plaintive sigh when he lay back on his pillow. “Will I see you around?”

“I doubt it.” Rey found her clothes quickly and put on the bare necessities, stuffing her bra in her bag and her jacket under her arm. “We don’t live in the same city, remember.”

“Maybe at another boring conference then. We could make it a little less boring.”

Her mouth twitched with a smile. “Maybe. Goodbye, Poe. It was nice meeting you.”

“It was very good meeting you, Rey.”

Her smile widened after her back was to him and she slipped into her heels. Rey smoothed out her hair as best she could for her walk of shame, though she really felt quite pleased with herself. With one last look at the handsome man in the bed (who she’d just fucked_, _ thank you _ very _much), she walked out of his room.

One year later Rey collected her nametag and welcome pack and made small talk with some colleagues. She had been looking forward to a couple of days out of the office, even though more work would be waiting for her when she got back. She wasn’t that keen on Vegas as a location but she’d take the break and hopefully learn a few new things if the speakers were decent.

Poe wasn’t on the program this year so she didn’t expect to run into him. He was probably jet setting around the world as CEO’s like him did. At least, she assumed they did. Hoped they did, if it meant she got to as well once she’d paid her dues and moved up the corporate ladder. For now she was stuck doing what felt like all the work for none of the glory. 

She was mid-conversation when she spied him across the room. Their eyes met briefly and Rey looked away in case he didn’t recognize her. Or maybe in case he did, she wasn’t quite sure. Poe Dameron was still her only one night stand — it turned out she wasn’t into that so much as she’d been into _ him _that night 12 months ago. She doubted he’d even remember it, whereas she did. Vividly. 

She’d dined out on the memory for months after. Some things were not easily forgotten like the feel of his hands on her, or his clever mouth, or the image of the prominent vein that protruded from his forehead when he came with an obscenely loud groan.

It didn’t matter now. She had a boyfriend and they’d been together for a happy eight months. They weren’t living together yet, mainly due to her own reluctance to give up her studio apartment despite the crazy rent. It was the first time she’d had a place all to herself, and even if he was there more nights than not, it was still hers. After years of college and grad school she felt like a fully fledged adult with her shit together.

Rey turned her attention back to what was being said, or tried to at least when she noticed Poe again in the corner of her eye as he moved closer. Then the others spotted him as well and talk among the junior partners turned to who knew Poe Dameron best (when neither of them did). One decided he was memorable enough to call out a loud greeting and Poe made his way over to their group.

“Hey, good to see you, buddy,” Poe said as he shook the hand of the junior partner, followed by the other one. “Hi, how’s it going?”

They locked eyes and Poe held out his hand to Rey last. “Nice to see you.”

She was embarrassed to feel her cheeks flush as she accepted his handshake. For a split second Rey feared he really didn’t remember her — it was clear he had no idea of the names of the junior partners from her firm — and all of her assumptions about him had been disappointingly true. Then she caught the glint in his eye and the knowing hint of a smirk when he let her hand go. 

“Hopefully I’ll see you all later,” Poe said to them but before he moved on his gaze settled briefly on Rey again. 

She had to bite back her own smile when their conversation began again about what a cool guy he was, and she tried not to be distracted by how great he still looked. Or wonder if he’d given her or their hook-up a second thought in the past year. Rey tried very hard not to think about him at all.

<><><>

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said that night when he sidled up to her in the same lounge bar where they’d met. “What are the chances?”

“Dumb luck?” she offered and sipped her drink.

“No beer this year?”

“I’ve upgraded to vodka rocks. At least when I’m in Vegas.”

Poe ordered two more from the bartender before motioning to the empty stool beside her. “Can I join you?”

“I thought you already had.” She nodded at the drinks that quickly appeared before them. 

“Oh, they’re both for me. It’s been a long day.”

Rey smiled at the lie while he shrugged off his suit jacket and sat down. He was wearing a white shirt again, unbuttoned with no tie, and her eyes were drawn to the peek of tan collarbone before she mentally chastised herself. 

“So, how are you, Rey?” he asked and held up his glass in a toast before taking a sip. 

“You remember my name. I’m impressed.” 

“You’re still wearing your nametag.”

Rey glanced down at her chest — another lie, she’d taken it off earlier while checking her reflection in the restroom in case she saw him again. 

“Of course I remember you,” Poe said with a chuckle. 

“Jerk. I’m well, thank you. How are you?”

“Great, thanks. It’s been a while. How’s work going?”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about work.”

“True. How’s everything else then?”

Rey helped herself to the second vodka. “Everything’s good. Really good.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“What about you?” 

She wanted to ask if he was still seeing someone, or mention that she had a boyfriend now, but it felt unnecessary. They were just catching up for a drink. Two… not friends. Colleagues? Not really. Acquaintances didn’t seem right either, considering what they’d gotten up to in Poe’s suite a year earlier. She settled on ‘people who knew each other’ as her own internal descriptor. Two people who knew each other catching up for a drink. 

There was no need to talk about their respective relationships, or work, or the conference. Rey was pleasantly surprised to find that, after some initial awkwardness, they could talk about plenty of other topics that were safer, friendly, and nowhere near intimate.

<><><>

“Shit,” she muttered a couple of hours later as she lay beside Poe and tried to catch her breath.

“Was that a critique? Because I’m always happy to hear constructive criticism,” he said. He threw her a cheeky grin then got up to take care of the condom. 

“Not you,” Rey groaned. “This wasn’t supposed to happen again.”

He offered her a bottle of water when he returned and stood waiting, naked, until she propped herself up on one elbow to take it. Rey shuffled back against the headboard and tucked the bedsheet under her arms, not quite as open with her body as he was, despite what had just happened. Again.

“I never do this,” she explained when he got back into the bed beside her, though he hadn’t asked a question. 

“Why not?” Off her frown he clarified, “It’s not a bad thing.”

“Maybe not, it’s just not me. Especially…” Rey bit her lip, wondering why she just didn’t shut up. “I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh. So it’s a guilt thing.”

“Well, yeah. We’ve been together long enough and I care about him too much to do something so hurtful.”

“How would it hurt him if he doesn’t find out?”

“So I should lie?”

“What would be the benefit in telling him? To you or to him?” Poe countered.

“You speak from experience, I take it.”

“Maybe. Honesty can be overrated.”

Rey let out a breath, hating herself and him at the same time. She cracked open the lid on the water and took a long, thirsty drink. 

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Poe asked in a complete change of subject that had her lost for words.

“Huh?”

“If we’re lucky we’ll find an old black and white one.” He reached for the remote and started flicking through channels.

“I take it you’re done talking about this,” she said. 

“Beat yourself up about it later, if that will make you feel better. But maybe give yourself a break first. Watch a movie with me.”

Rey wasn’t sure what to think, or what to do. The rational part of her brain told her to get dressed and go, and with any luck she would never see him again. The rest of it fought hard to stay, nestled in Poe’s sheets in a hotel suite in Vegas that no one else ever had to know about if she kept her mouth shut.

“Old movies, huh?” she said when he found one he approved of and propped a few pillows behind them. “How old are you, exactly?”

He grinned at her as he shuffled around to get more comfortable. “I used to watch them with my parents. It started when I was sick one time when I was four or five, then it became this tradition. I’d crawl into their bed and my mom would put on one of these old movies. The ones with dancing, you know? They were kinda boring for a kid but they loved them so I did, too.”

Rey was more touched than she let on, that he’d share that with her for one thing, and that he got to experience something like that as a child. 

They watched for the next hour, Poe making the occasional comment but mostly in a companionable silence. He raided the mini bar and spread out a makeshift picnic of nuts, chips and chocolate that probably cost more than her week’s groceries. Rey didn’t much care about what was happening in the movie but she enjoyed herself nonetheless. Towards the end she looked over and saw the faint smile Poe wore as the couple danced a waltz on screen. 

He met her gaze and held it for a few seconds, then he pointed the remote at the TV and muted the sound.

“It wasn’t dumb luck, us seeing each other at the bar tonight,” Poe said quietly, the screen projecting light and shadow on his face and smooth chest. “It doesn’t have to be a problem for your relationship or for mine.”

Rey took a breath, fighting the inner conflict of what she knew was the right thing to do versus what she wanted. Craved, actually, as if she had no self control at all. Her eyes grazed up the exposed column of his throat as she stared unashamedly at him.

“Don’t you feel any guilt?” she murmured even as she squirmed lower under the covers and clenched her thighs together.

Poe’s dark, intense eyes didn’t leave hers. “Maybe. But I don’t regret it.”

Rey realized she didn’t either, as much as she knew she should. Her life in San Francisco — her normal, contented life — seemed far away when he shifted towards her, barely pausing to toss a few empty packets and wrappers aside before he invaded her space. Only then did he stop so Rey was forced to grab him by the back of the neck and draw him down the last few inches so their lips met in a searing kiss.

One year later Rey was late coming out of a panel session. It was her panel session, one she’d been asked to participate in by her company. She knew it didn’t mean much — her colleagues were happy to let her do the extra prep work ahead of the conference and take on the stress of delivery to what amounted to only a few dozen attendees. She didn’t care, she was proud of herself. It may not have been the most riveting of topics but she’d gotten a few good points in, and a question afterwards, and she was more than satisfied with her efforts.

It did mean she was delayed getting to the lounge bar. It was stupid, she told herself, to be so worried that she’d miss him. She had no business meeting up with him again. Once was an indiscretion, twice was a regrettable lapse in judgment, three times was… Well, three times wasn’t going to happen. 

Which is why Rey was almost disappointed when she arrived and saw Poe was seated alone at the bar. If he hadn’t turned up she wouldn’t have to deal with the situation, past or present. She could turn on her heel and get out of there. Maybe she could even catch up with some of the others from her work and finally join them on one of their stupid nights out. 

But there he was, and so was she. 

A smile spread slowly across his beautiful face when she sat down beside him and she tried not to react. 

“Hello, Rey.”

She kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, just as he did. “Hello, Poe.”

“Vodka rocks, right?”

“I was thinking tequila shots. Because fuck it, I had a good day.”

He snorted a laugh. “Fuck it indeed.”

Poe motioned to the bartender and ordered the shots, selecting some expensive brand she’d never heard of and would probably never purchase. 

“Should we toast to something?” he asked when the glasses were set down before them and they finally turned to face each other properly.

Rey shook her head and downed the shot. Poe followed closely behind and she indicated to the bartender to refill them. This time Rey held up her glass to him.

“What’s the saying?” she said. “What happens in Vegas…?” 

She could’ve sworn she saw Poe’s eyes darken when he clinked his shot glass against hers and they drank together. 

“Take me upstairs,” she said before the alcohol kicked in. 

Rey had had no intention of being with him again as she prepared for the conference, or when she packed a bag in the bedroom she now shared with her live-in boyfriend, or when she saw Poe’s nametag on the registration table when she collected her own. She’d had no intention until she saw him again at the bar and something clicked in her brain, or perhaps something switched off. Whatever it was, in that moment she didn’t care. She could hate herself tomorrow and for the next 12 months.

Poe tossed some money on the bar, grabbed her hand and they walked out. 

<><><>

They didn’t talk as much that night. Rey didn’t want to ask about his life or have him ask about hers. It would lead to answers she didn’t want to know about and questions she didn’t want to hear. So she enjoyed it for what it was — meaningless sex. Awesome, meaningless sex — the kind she wasn’t supposed to want with anyone else but the man she was in a relationship with. That was the problem with Poe, he always made her want what she shouldn’t.

At the end of a rewarding day where she felt good about herself career-wise, Rey relished feeling good physically, too. She didn’t care if it was short lived and the burden of it all would come crashing down within hours — right about the time she’d leave Poe’s room for her own, and reality would set in.

She had a few more hours. In the meantime Poe’s face was still diligently buried between her thighs after she’d already come once, and Rey blocked everything else out.

One year later Rey arrived at the bar after him again, though this time it may have been intentional. They had locked eyes across the conference room only briefly that morning. During the plenary session Rey sat in the vast audience while Poe was being interviewed on stage, giving her more of an opportunity to stare at him than he’d had of her thanks to his face being projected on the large screens. No one was clamoring to speak to her or learn her trade secrets like they did him. He charmed and inspired the audience in turn, a mix of self deprecation over his most recent success and candid views over the future of the industry. The adulation the attendees held for him was compounded by their surroundings — everything about the casino hotel was glitz and glamour. Their lounge bar was like an oasis in comparison.

Rey did feel vaguely possessive of it, as if it were theirs, when she heard it mentioned as a possible meet up location for the group from her office. She’d only overheard the discussion because they’d given up inviting her, assuming she spent the conference holed up in her room each year when she was really fucking her brains out with their poster boy. If only they knew. Luckily their plans changed and they ended up at a restaurant.

Still, on the off chance someone didn’t get the message, Rey didn’t arrive at the bar until later than usual. She took her time getting ready, spending extra time putting on heavier makeup than she usually wore. She figured she may as well look the part if she was going to let herself behave this way again and again. She even bought new underwear, a matching set of barely-there lace bra and panties that would end up in the trash after tonight because she couldn’t take them home. They’d been expensive too, another form of self punishment.

Poe was sat at the very end of the bar as if it somehow made him less conspicuous. Her mouth twisted with a smile, the dark lipstick staining her lips, but when she slid into the seat next to him her nerves failed her and she forgot the line she’d rehearsed.

His eyes widened slightly as they raked over her from head to toe, and she was pleased with the transformation from conference Rey, the woman he was used to seeing each year. 

“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked.

There was something about the catch in his voice and the way he hadn’t stopped staring at her that made her say nothing in reply, just to see what he would do next. She made a slow study of his face up close, cataloging those little, unnoticeable things most people missed. She remained silent while she did it, and Poe’s gaze grew hungry.

“Come up to my room,” he said, and it was borderline an order. It was only when she blinked at him mutely, mostly because her mouth went dry in that instant, that he seemed to waver. “Please?”

Rey’s movements were still unhurried as she turned in her seat and walked out of the bar, as if it were her choice alone, feeling powerful when Poe followed right behind her. They stood at the bank of elevators together, and he was just close enough without touching her that the hairs on her arm stood on end. She could smell his cologne and whatever product he put in his curls to make them messily perfect. Rey closed her eyes at the scent when he leaned in towards her, only to straighten up quickly when a handful of people turned up and milled about them as they waited for the elevators.

One, it turned out, was from their conference, and he immediately tried to engage Poe in conversation as they all stepped inside and selected their floors. Rey smiled to herself where she stood in front of them, listening to the poor man gush and Poe be uncharacteristically curt.

They reached Poe’s floor and Rey stepped out of the elevator first, followed by him and the conference hanger-on. She didn’t miss Poe’s sigh at his poor luck that their rooms were on the same floor, especially when he was invited in for a drink to continue their one-sided conversation. 

“I really can’t. Big day tomorrow,” she heard him say as she continued walking down the long corridor a respectable distance from him.

Fortunately the other man’s room was near the elevator and he soon disappeared inside with a final, “Congratulations on the merger!”

Within seconds Poe jogged to catch up with her, a hand pressed to the small of her back, as he urged her forward a few more doors to his suite. He swiped his card and practically pushed her inside, following right behind. 

Rey started laughing and Poe joined in until he was staring at her again and his expression sobered. She had not said a single word to him and she didn’t see any reason to start now. Instead she reached for him, specifically for his belt, and pulled him closer. He was already half hard just from the journey to get where they were now. They had a ways to go yet before it was tomorrow. 

She made sure she got his white shirt completely off before she touched him anywhere with her dark stained lips. Though, like her underwear, she supposed he could just throw it away so there wasn’t any evidence.

One year later she almost didn’t go to the conference. Her recent promotion meant she had little time for anything but work, and it showed no signs of slowing down. Not that the rest of her life was either. 

Rey sat in one of the lounge seats in the bar and twisted the diamond ring on her finger. She contemplated switching it to her right hand then thought better of it. If Poe turned up she had nothing to hide, not with him anyway. It was strangely perverse to think this was the time and place she could be most honest and she wouldn’t be judged for her choices, not by him. (Birds of a feather… she thought darkly.) 

In Vegas with Poe it was easy. It was one night a year that was just for her — no relationship, no emotional burdens. She could just have a good time for once. Or, several times now, really. A four-night one night stand. It sounded better the less she thought about it. 

He arrived right on time, though they had never actually agreed on a specific time. Just an unspoken arrangement on the day and location. This time he sat down without preamble and the last thing she did before looking at him properly was to turn the diamond around to her palm. As if somehow a plain band was a better look than an engagement ring on her left hand.

“It’s good to see you, Rey,” he said with a characteristic charming smile.

“You too.” And damn if that wasn’t the truth, she thought. He looked as effortlessly handsome as he always did. He was grayer than he was when they first met but it suited him. 

They ordered red wine because she’d acquired a taste for it now she could afford kinds that were half-way decent. Internally she still grimaced at the bottle he selected when she saw the price, but let him waste his money knowing she would never be that frivolous.

She did enjoy it though, and they chatted in an effortless way about this and that until the bottle was empty and they were both hungry. 

“Do you want to go get dinner? Or maybe room service?” he asked candidly. 

Rey opened her mouth to answer but something made her pause. Not for the first time she really thought about what they were doing. What _ she _was doing, more to the point. It made it worse that they were talking like old friends when they were anything but. Poe could do whatever he liked — she had to live with herself.

“Is it that?” he prompted off her silence and nodded towards her hand. Before she could answer he reached out and turned the band around so the diamond was visible. “Huh. It’s pretty small.”

“Shut up,” she snapped, immediately on the defensive. When he looked amused she felt a faint blush of embarrassment. “I was the one who picked it out.”

“Okay,” he replied and she didn’t miss the scoffing tone. “Are we going to talk about it?” 

“Why would we?”

“I don’t know, isn’t that what people do? We could order champagne and I could congratulate you properly.”

Rey made a face. “You will absolutely not.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he countered. 

“Because we’re here… Together in this bar, and we know what happens next.”

Poe pursed his lips and said nothing for a few moments. “We don’t have to.” When she didn’t reply and didn’t even look at him he continued. “I mean it, Rey. If you don’t want to do this anymore, just say the word.”

She felt a surge of emotion. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Now he didn’t respond and Rey was left to sort through her own shame and guilt, only to be left with a burn of desire and anticipation that she couldn’t quiet no matter how much she wanted to.

“Do I have to say it?” she whispered.

“Maybe you do. Maybe I just want to hear it.” Then Poe’s voice softened as if he regretted being so demanding. “Maybe I need to hear it.”

Rey took a couple of contemplative breaths, deciding if she could do it or if she should just take the out he was offering her and walk away. They couldn’t keep going like this forever. Not now, when she was trying to move forward with her life. 

The words were out of her mouth before her thoughts were fully formed, from some deep, dark place inside she rarely listened to. 

“I want this,” she admitted quietly. 

“So do I,” he replied, low and intense. 

“I think room service.”

“So do I,” Poe repeated, and he waited for her to lead the way out of the bar.

<><><>

The sex was different this time, Rey couldn’t deny it. Whether it was the ring or something else that shifted things between them she wasn’t sure. It was still the most exciting sex she’d ever had, there was no denying that (not that she’d ever admit it to a living soul), but it wasn’t the same. They could pretend all they like that the rest of the world didn’t exist when they came to Las Vegas each year. Reality was catching up. 

Still, she stayed while he ordered dinner, bundled up in one of his suite’s plush bathrobes. He was in a matching robe when he joined her at the dining table, the post-coital mood more somber. 

“So, you’re getting married,” Poe said.

Rey knew staying to eat had been a mistake. She should have been grateful that neither of them had wanted to wait as soon as they reached his room and the sex came first. It was supposed to be the only reason for her being there.

“What’s he like?” Poe prompted.

She shook her head in amazement. “Really? That's what you want to talk about?”

He shrugged and she decided to be honest.

“He’s good to me. Uncomplicated. Easy to be with.”

“Sounds kinda boring.”

“You would say that.”

Poe dropped his gaze and grinned. “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of excitement. Isn’t that why we keep doing this?” 

Rey had to laugh at that, and there was a trace of bitterness. “I don’t know why we keep doing this, and that’s the truth. Maybe we shouldn’t. Maybe it’s time we stopped.”

“See how you feel next year. Maybe your life will be so boring you’ll be desperate to get away for just one night.”

“Don’t count on it,” she said not unkindly. 

One year later Rey stared at the screen announcing the featured keynote presenters at the conference, still astounded that her name and face were among them. The project she was showcasing was a good one. Rey was proud of the work that she and her team had put in, but she hadn’t expected the attention it received or the invitation to speak on behalf of the firm. Her junior partnership was all but guaranteed now.

Although she had prepared well and had her presentation memorized, Rey knew her time that evening would be better spent reviewing it again rather than going to the lounge bar. Yet she made her way there after the rest of the day’s sessions were over because she was weak. No special underwear or makeup this time, she wasn’t hiding behind any crutches.

They arrived at the entrance at almost the same time and shared a discreet smile. Poe went to order at the bar then joined her at a table. She realized after a few minutes of idle chatter that it was the same table where they’d met the first time. 

He had ordered champagne like he threatened to before, and she refused to acknowledge the dig when it arrived. As he tilted his glass towards her she spotted it.

“Well, I guess that’s what they call a development,” she said, looking pointedly at the wedding band he now wore. 

“Uh, yeah.”

Rey took a longer sip of champagne than she intended, draining half her glass.

“Don’t worry about it,” Poe replied. “Nothing has to change.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“My wife and I have an arrangement. We don’t talk about what happens here.”

Rey made a face.

“Sorry, I won’t talk about her," he said. "What’s new with you?”

He sat back to get comfortable but Rey felt wrong, a different sort of wrong from every time before. She figured she had finally outgrown whatever base compulsion brought her back to Las Vegas and Poe’s bed year after year. At least, she hoped she had. 

“I don’t think I want to do this anymore,” she stated.

“Yeah, okay,” he said, sounding completely unconvinced.

“No, I don’t mean ‘I can’t do this’ because of… everything. I mean I don’t _ want _ to. I’m done.” 

Poe opened his mouth to say something then seemed to think better of it. He shrugged as if he didn’t care either way which made it easier.

“It was fun while it lasted. No hard feelings?” he offered.

“No feelings at all,” Rey reminded him.

She didn’t miss the flash of disappointment in his eyes — a small crack in his façade — but otherwise he hid it well. 

“Stay and have a last drink,” Poe said, filling her glass with more champagne. “One for the road?”

Rey smiled and gathered up her bag and folder. “Actually I’ve got a presentation tomorrow. I should probably try and get a good night’s sleep. Goodbye, Poe.”

He was genuinely surprised when she went to leave, looking lost.

“Wait, that’s it? You’re really just going to walk away after all this time?

“Five nights over as many years isn’t a long time. We never even made it to sunrise.” 

She could see the muscles in his jaw working as he stood up too. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, leaving him looking a little boyish. 

“Can I kiss you goodbye at least?” he asked.

Rey nodded before she’d paused long enough to think it through fully. Her eyes darted around the bar but there was no one she recognized, everyone else was absorbed in their own conversations. She led him to a slightly more secluded spot near the entrance and turned to face him. Poe let out an exasperated breath before taking her folder and bag away so she wasn’t encumbered. 

Then he kissed her like he had the first time — tenderly at first, swiftly followed by an indecent amount of tongue that signaled his intent. He was pressed too close, his hands roaming her back from neck to ass. It was no goodbye kiss and both of them knew it.

“Fuck you, Poe,” she muttered breathlessly, not hiding her annoyance when he shifted back after kissing her just long enough to have her practically swooning. 

“Hey, I’m still game.” He kissed her again just as purposefully.

Rey grimaced and shoved him in the chest so that a small gasp escaped his throat. But his eyes told a different story and they reflected the same pooling desire she felt. 

“This is absolutely the last time,” she ground out firmly.

“Deal.”

<><><>

“Stay,” Poe said later as she sat in his lap, their limbs still entwined as their breathing returned to normal and the air conditioning cooled the sweat on their skin. “You don’t have to run off.”

“I do, actually,” Rey replied. Practicalities aside given he was still inside her, she knew no good could come of staying. 

He ignored her for a few more minutes at least, burying his face in her neck and kissing her lazily. She thought about warning him not to leave a mark but they had always been careful about that. Poe’s lips were closed and gentle as he pressed them repeatedly against her flushed skin.

“At least we went out with a bang not a whimper,” he murmured.

Rey laughed and took the opportunity to extricate herself from him, ignoring his subsequent protest, and went to the bathroom to clean up and get dressed. 

By the time she was done Poe was in a robe and looking at the room service menu.

“Do you want to order something? I’m starving.” He looked up when she put her shoes on. “I guess not.”

“I’m going to go practice my presentation for the morning.”

“Good luck with it.”

“Thanks.”

Poe put the menu aside and got up to stand before her. “So I guess this really is goodbye.”

She nodded.

“I’m glad I met you,” he said simply.

“Me too.” Rey found didn’t have the words for more. She leaned in and kissed his cheek before he said or did anything else. “Goodbye.”

With that, she walked swiftly out of Poe’s hotel room. And this time she knew it was for the very last time.

When the cab dropped her off at home in San Francisco after the conference was over, Rey wheeled her suitcase up the path. Lights were on upstairs and she took comfort that the man she’d chosen to spend the rest of her life with was inside waiting for her, and that everything else was the same. She took a moment to appreciate it, reminding herself never to take any of it for granted, before unlocking the front door.

Rey was immediately greeted by the excited barks of their Shiba Inu who barreled down the stairs towards her.

“There’s my baby! Did you miss Mummy? I missed you.” She crouched on the floor and fussed over him as he carried on like she’d been gone for three months not three days. “Look what Mummy brought home for you.”

She pulled out yet another chew toy for his collection that was enthusiastically received. 

“Where’s Daddy? Let’s go find him.”

The dog was gone in a flash while Rey straightened up a little more slowly and with a small sigh. She left her suitcase on the landing and started up the steps.

“You’re back,” he called out.

“I am.”

“How was it?”

She came up to where he was working at his drafting table by the window in the living room, the same place he’d been when she left. Rey nestled into his side to see what he was working on and curled an arm around his shoulders.

“It was fine. Got good feedback at the speakers’ lunch.”

He tilted his head to kiss her chin. “I knew you would.”

She smiled and left a kiss on his temple.

“And the other thing?” he asked.

“What other thing?”

“The other reason you insist on going to that specific conference every year.”

Rey was tight-lipped as he shifted on his stool so they were facing each other and she slotted automatically between his knees.

“Is it out of your system now?” 

She looked at him with a pang of familiar guilt but her resolve hadn’t wavered. “Yes.” 

He accepted her at her word and leaned in to kiss her properly in greeting.

“Is it out of yours?” she wanted to know too.

Poe shrugged. “I never needed a dirty night in Vegas with you to keep things interesting. Or for the purposes of tradition.”

“You were pretty quick to book your flight and an expensive hotel room, buddy,” Rey scoffed. 

“Who am I to deny you your peccadilloes?” he teased as he tugged her closer and began leaving warm kisses on her throat and neck.

It did nothing to counter the frown she wore in response to what he’d said. They’d both been into keeping their annual hook-up going when she’d first suggested it, and then it kept happening. But there was a reason she’d wanted to stop once they got married, and why she was so uncomfortable now.

“You didn’t actually answer me,” she said. “Is it out of your system? Just us. Here.”

Poe’s features settled with more sincerity, his hands framing her hips. “I don’t need anything else. Just you.”

Rey chewed at her bottom lip as she hesitated. “You’d tell me if you did, right? You wouldn’t just go off on a business trip and pick up some woman in a bar…”

“Hey. We’ve talked about this,” he said and it was his turn to frown. “Neither of us are proud about what we did back then but that was before…”

“Before what?”

“Before I fell in love with you. Before I knew you were the only one for me. The rest of it, these last three years meeting up in Vegas, it was just a harmless fantasy.”

Rey wasn’t convinced. “Is a cheating fantasy really harmless?”

He waggled her hips. “Is it really cheating if it’s with your own husband?”

“I guess not.” She smoothed his shirt on his shoulders and tried to banish any lingering doubt. 

“Do _ you _ need anything else?” Poe asked quietly, repeating her words back to her. “You’d tell me if you did, right?”

A small smile appeared on her lips as she met his gaze. “You’re enough for me. You and BB.”

At the sound of his name the Shiba Inu gave a yap from his bed beside Poe’s desk. They both looked down and grinned at him. 

“I need to take him for a walk,” he said. “Wanna come?”

Rey knew there was email and other work she had to catch up on but it could wait. “Yeah, I do.”

“Let’s go. Come on, boy.”

BB was already racing down the stairs for the front door leaving Rey and Poe to catch up.

<><><>

Later that night they stood side by side in the bathroom while Poe brushed his teeth and Rey flossed hers. It was a far cry from Vegas but she didn’t care. Being home meant walking the dog and making dinner (or ordering in more often than not because neither of them were great cooks) and answering work emails while watching TV together. At least Poe had been able to take a step back when he sold his company, part of the move from LA when things had turned serious between them. That had also allowed the purchase of the new house they currently resided in which she was still coming to terms with.

He rubbed a hand on her exposed waist as he passed her on his way to the bedroom, leaving her to her nightly dental regimen. When she was done she found him propped up against his pillows, glasses on as he read a new bestseller he probably picked up at the airport. BB was already curled up asleep in his bed at the foot of theirs. 

She watched Poe for a moment from the doorway. He was wearing dark sleep shorts and a t-shirt, something he never wore in Vegas. He also never brought a book to bed there, but that was not the purpose of those handful of nights. Rey would take these real ones over them anytime.

Instead of getting into her side she crawled from the foot of the bed over his bare legs until he looked over the top of his book at her. She ran her hands up his thick thighs over his shorts before leaning down over his hips where she edged his t-shirt up with her nose and pressed her face to his belly. It was softer than it was when they met and she liked it despite his complaints about it. She kissed his smooth skin, inhaling deeply. Her fingers journeyed further up his sides under the fabric of his shirt while the rest of her descended. She mouthed him through his shorts for a moment then wasted no time in pulling them down so she had proper contact.

Poe’s hardback hit the nightstand with a thud, followed by the light clatter of his glasses. His breathing grew more audible and relaxed as she sucked and licked and stroked the way he liked. When his hand touched her hair she stopped and looked up at him. He cupped her face and urged her forward so he could kiss her. 

“Not too tired?” he murmured even as he held her firmly pressed against his erection.

“No,” she replied and ground her hips down for emphasis.

Poe was in no hurry when he rolled her onto her back and kissed her for a while. He kissed her like he didn’t kiss her every day, like he didn’t know every inch of her mouth and neck already. She sighed into it and let him because she knew what it meant. Fantasies were all well and good but the kind of sex they had when they first met — more accurately the cheating sex, she reminded herself — had nothing on the connection they had when they admitted there was something more between them. That intimacy, the kind that had grown in intensity when they stopped playing games and committed to one another, was everything.

He didn’t go any faster when he finally peeled off her underwear and pushed all the way into her, taking long, slow strokes while she folded her legs at his sides. She let him maintain the pace without encouraging more, content to watch the enjoyment on his face.

“Should we have a baby?” she asked out of nowhere. 

Poe stopped and looked down at where they were joined, as if it could magically happen in that moment just by her saying it. When he looked into her eyes she didn’t miss the glint of hope.

“I thought you didn’t want to. Not yet.”

She touched her fingers to his cheek, knowing how much he did because he didn’t want to be the old dad in the playground, though he never put pressure on her. 

“We have this big house,” she said.

Poe smiled and leaned down to kiss her tenderly, rocking his hips into her as he did. Rey locked her ankles around his waist to keep him close. 

“I love you,” he breathed into her ear.

It had taken Rey a long time to believe it when he’d first professed how he felt, though she had already fallen for him completely. She had never quite trusted their happiness together, waiting for the karmic retribution that was owed them for their respective betrayals. But they were happy, they had built a life together, and even if it was tempting fate she wanted more. She wanted everything, and for Poe to have it too.

“I love you,” she replied, and now she did encourage him to speed up. “Let’s make a baby.”

One year later they did.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
